Let’s cast our minds back (those of us who can anyway) to the heady days of 1971. For me, my memories of 1971 are a bit hazy not only because 1971 was over fifty-three years ago but also because I was only five years old at the time.

Even as a five-year-old I was already a huge Monkees fan (you can read several of my previous blog posts on that subject) and oddly enough I remember a few vinyl albums that came out that year especially one called “Davy Jones” that was released on Bell Records.

Bell Records in 1971 was also the home of one of my other favorite music groups of the era, The Partridge Family, so I was well primed for an album sung by one of The Monkees that had a distinct Partridge Family feel.

At the time I had no idea of the connection between Davy Jones and The Partridge Family and Bell Records all I knew is that I loved this album and truly adored the first single from the album “Rainy Jane”.

In fact my mother bought me the 45 of “Rainy Jane” way before I received the album. I think because of the fact that I played the single so much that my older sister threatened to take it and break in into tiny pieces may have influenced my mother to buy the entire album for me a few months later for my sixth birthday in January of 1972.

(Note: Bell Records was owned by Columbia Pictures who had made both “The Monkees” and “The Partridge Family” TV shows. Bell Records owned their catalogs and released both The Monkees and The Partridge Family recordings thus the connection between the two.

The reason that the “Davy Jones” album sounded more like The Partridge Family then The Monkees was that in 1971 The Partridge Family and David Cassidy, the show’s main draw, were big business and selling records at a phenomenal pace.

The producer of the “Davy Jones” album (Jackie Mills) also produced records by Bobby Sherman who was also a teen idol and huge at that time – thus the Partridge/teen idol sound of the “Davy Jones” lp, much to Davy Jones displeasure.)

So what do I remember of the “Davy Jones” album?

Well I remember that I thought at the time that it was good, very good in fact. I loved side one of the record but even at that age I thought it was a slight step down from The Monkees albums; very good but not great.

For some reason to this day I remember every note from side one of the album but I must have played side two a lot less as those songs don’t stick in my memory as much. 

In fact the highlights of the album, for me, are all on side one with “Road to Love”, “Rainy Jane” and “Look at Me” being the standouts. “Look at Me” in particular is a haunting song that grows even more poignant with age. Written by Bread’s David Gates, who also wrote “Saturday’s Child” for The Monkees first album, this song is one of my all-time favorite songs from that era by anyone.

Also after hearing the opening track “Road to Love” I have an overwhelming feeling of hope; the remembrance of the hope of a child listening to this song for the first time. The sound of this track on this CD is worth the price of admission for sure.

Also, I do remember that the song “Say it Again” was featured in an episode of The Partridge Family but sung by then teens Andy and David Williams in a dreadful performance which makes Davy Jones version stand out even more.

Now, finally, here’s where 7a Records comes in.

This week I received their loving reissue of the “Davy Jones” album and I have to say as usual 7a Records has hit it out of the park. This CD sounds and looks great and contains some truly terrific liner notes.

The liner notes from this reissue give you a good feel of where Davy Jones was at in 1971 musically and his frustration with being saddled with what he considered weaker material and the teen idol type production of the times.

(Note 2: Two songs Davy Jones recorded as demos for Bell Records, “Man We Was Lonely” and “King Lonely the Blue”, were included on a previous 7a Records release called “Manchester Boy – Personal File”. These two songs which contained a much grittier, more adult pop/rock sound is the approach that Jones wanted to go with this Bell Records album before it was taken over by the Jackie Mills production. 

There’s also a demo version of “Rainy Jane” for Bell Records produced in the same adult vein that smokes the Bell version but I still really love the Bell version as well. It’s too bad Davy Jones wasn’t allowed to take his music to a wider audience but this album still has its charms.)

I’ve reviewed a previous CD reissue of the “Davy Jones” album on this blog, a Blu-Spec issue from Japan, which was itself preceded by a wonderful CD release of this album on the Friday Music label. That first CD issue happened to have been put out with the co-operation of Davy Jones himself before he passed and has the same bonus tracks that are featured on this new 7a release.

Seeing as how the master tapes of the “Davy Jones” album are supposedly missing I don’t think the true US masters have ever been used to reissue this album. It sounds like the Friday Music CD was mastered from a vinyl source, though I don’t know for sure, and possibly the Blu-Spec CD from Japan on Arista came from a Japanese master for the album from the ’70s from Sony in Japan.

I think I read that this new 7a Records version comes from the Japanese master of “Davy Jones” so that would account for its lovely sound. I’d say that of the three CD versions of this album released that this one sounds the best. A slight improvement over the Japanese Blu-Spec CD with a bit fuller sound and a lovely bass sound on most tracks.

(Note 3: in my review of the Blu-Spec CD I wrote of the superior sound of the Arista Japanese CD as compared to the Friday Music version. I don’t know if it’s a case of the same source with better mastering or if it indeed came from a submaster from Japan but the Blu-Spec was crisper and sharper and this new 7a Records sounds much like that Arista blu-spec CD.)

I don’t know the source of the bonus tracks but they too sound great on all issues of this material so they may come from master tapes sources from Sony but I’m not sure.

All I can say is that this new CD version by 7a Records gets my vote for sound and packaging and is a great way to discover or rediscover this album.

Here’s the track list below and note that this reissue includes the classic song “Girl” which most boomers or fans of The Brady Bunch will remember from that classic Brady Bunch episode where Marcia gets Davy to go the prom with her.

Here’s the track list of the new 7a Records release:

1. Road To Love
2. How About Me
3. Singin’ To The Music
4. Rainy Jane
5. Look At Me
6. Say It Again
7. I Really Love You
8. Love Me For A Day
9. Sitting In The Apple Tree
10. Take My Love
11. Pretty Little Girl
12. Welcome To My Love

Bonus Tracks:

13. Girl (Mono)
14. I’ll Believe In You (Mono)
15. Take My Love (Mono)
16. Road To Love (Mono)
17. How About Me (Mono)
18. I Really Love You (Mono)

I don’t have the groovy colored vinyl version of this album that 7a Records has issued (yet) but I’m sure it’s just as good as the CD version and well worth adding to your collection if your a Davy Jones/Monkees fan or a fan of early ’70s pop.

Well, that’s all for now.

As usual take a look above at photos of this new 7a Records reissue. I can’t say anything more positive than listening to this CD put a smile on my face and you can’t put a price on that especially in the times we are living in now.

Be well and healthy and until next time, see you soon.

Hello dear friends on this bright sunny afternoon, at least in my neck of the woods.

Today I thought I’d share with you some groovy new CDs that managed to find their way to my mailbox just this very week. These aren’t you’re standard CDs mind you, they contain DTS Dolby Atmos mixes of the recently released Beatles collections “1962-1966” and “1967-1970”.

Of course by this time these Atmos mixes are probably old hat to a big section of Beatles fandom but as usual I have one foot in the old world and one foot in the new and do not stream in Atmos but do have the ability to play Atmos mixes now that I recently bought a new sound bar for my TV that’s capable of playing them.

Since I don’t really stream much music I’ve never had the opportunity to partake of any of the Beatles Dolby Atmos mixes but am gleefully playing catch-up as the Dolby Atmos mixes from the Beatles Deluxe box sets from a few years ago sound terrific.

I was wondering if it might be time to break down and get a streaming subscription somewhere to hear the new “1962-1966” and “1967-1970” Atmos mixes but alas I struck physical gold. I stumbled upon these two new double CD sets on the Voo Doo Records label that contain the new Atmos mixes of these albums thus no need for a subscription (for now anyway) which makes it much less of a hassle to hear them.

I do wish Apple (The Beatles company) would change their mind and issue this material on a blu-ray disc but apparently that’s not going to happen as sales I’m guessing don’t warrant it. And that’s too bad as I have to say that after hearing these two sets this is the way to hear these new mixes.

(Note: I can’t say where I found these sets but if you look hard enough online you’ll find them)

For starters the dynamics of the music on both of these sets is much improved over their CD counterparts. The music breathes more and is less hard on the ears but does let the listener discover aspects of the songs that you can’t hear on the regular stereo mix.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the 2023 CD versions of the “1962-1966” and “1967-1970” sets but from now on I’ll probably reach for these two new DTS sets which are much more pleasant to listen to while also making the music sound more engaging and satisfying.

Even the strange new 2023 mix of “I Am the Walrus” is less jarring on the Atmos mix as you can hear the end dialogue more clearly than the regular stereo mix which makes this crazy new mix more enjoyable, at least for me anyway.

Of course listening to Dolby Atmos though my TV’s soundbar system may make these new mixes sound more quiet than through my stereo as this set-up isn’t quite as powerful as my receiver but these Atmos mixes nonetheless still sound really impressive and are much more fun to listen to than the regular CDs.

Of the two sets I’d have to say I prefer the Atmos mixes of the “1967-1970” set as the later material seems to be better suited to surround sound but the second disc of the “1962-1966” set isn’t far behind.

The first disc of “1962-1966” is fun but didn’t sound as engaging as the early material didn’t stray too far into an expansive surround feeling as much as the later material did. There were a few songs that sounded really different but for the most part the Atmos version of the earliest material didn’t sound too different from the stereo mix.

Overall though I truly enjoyed these Dolby Atmos mixes and am so happy to have them in disc form. Once Dolby Atmos is easier to access online I may bite the bullet and try some steaming but it seems that getting Atmos to work though my TV soundbar was more of chore online that on a disc format through my 4k blu-ray player.

Besides as this blog is all about physical media how fitting to have found a physical format for these sets. I own one other Voo-Doo Records release and I have to say that the cover and packaging are superb as well as the disc artwork – love that Apple label! Very well done and top notch sound makes these CD sets a true treasure for fans of physical media.

As usual you can see photos of these two sets above and judge the quality of the packaging for yourself. As far as the sound well if you get a hold of these discs I’m sure you won’t be disappointed as long as you have a disc player (more than likely a blu-ray player) that plays DTS and a system that can play Dolby Atmos.

That’s all for now. I hope you are healthy and well and until next time enjoy your day and listen to some music!!!

See you soon.

 

Today I’m going to introduce a new series of posts here called “From the Underground”. 

These “From the Underground” posts will consist of looking at CDs I’ve garnered over the years that are “gray market” or what’s more commonly known as bootleg CDs. Bootlegs have been around in the music industry for decades but it wasn’t until the late 1980s, and the advent of the compact disc, that bootlegs began to rival the sound of official discs/recordings.

Some bootlegs of course were decent but most of them left a lot to be desired at least sound wise. It was the rare content of these bootlegs that drew fans in even though the sound may have been really dodgy.

Starting in 1988 with the release of the epic and stunning sounding collections of Beatles outtakes known as “Ultra Rare Trax” (Volume 1 and  Volume 2)” the world of bootlegs took a major leap up as far as sound was concerned as these two CDs were fresh from the original Beatles sessions tapes and to this day are THE best sounding glimpses of The Beatles at work in the recording studio.

These collections of mostly stereo outtakes consisted of The Beatles playing live in the studio without any noise reduction or compression; just the raw studio tapes in pristine sound. These first two “Ultra Rare Trax” collections were soon followed by numerous follow-ups that flooded the collectors world with a treasure trove of unreleased Beatles material.

Following the release of the “Ultra Rare Trax” series the market was flooded with CDs of stunning quality of not only Beatles recording sessions but their BBC performances as well as a host of terrific sounding live recordings.

Suffice to say that The Beatles camp and their record company were none too pleased about the release of this material. The fact that these discs sounded better than some of the official Beatles releases really made The Beatles and EMI (their record label) stand up and take notice with an eye to combat the bootleggers.

Because of that flood of quality bootleg material from the 1988 to 1993 CD era The Beatles decided to release their own official releases from their archives. The three Beatles “Anthology” CD sets from 1995 and 1996 were meant to address the leakage of all the unissued Beatles material and improve on the sound quality from the bootleg releases.

While the “Anthology” series was indeed a goldmine for unreleased Beatles material there were still a lot of older bootlegs that had better sound and more material than could ever be issued officially.

This is where today’s post comes in. Today I’m sharing four CDs that contain some of my favorite Beatles live recordings, some of which have come out officially, that have stood the test of time and offer something special for those who want some of the better Beatles live recordings that are out there.

The four CDs I’ve chosen today include:

The Beatles – “Stars of ’63” (Swinging Pig label) – A complete Swedish radio show that features one of the best ever recorded early Beatles performances that also features truly inspired performances from the group with a somewhat unique setlist

The Beatles – “The Ultimate Live Collection” (Yellow Dog label) – A 2 CD set that features four different and excellent Beatles live performances: Indianapolis 1964, Philadelphia 1964 and two shows from 1965 in Houston, Texas

The Beatles – “Hollywood Bowl Complete” – (Yellow Dog label) – This CD features a complete 1964 Beatles show at the Hollywood Bowl in mono from an original Capitol Records acetate and a complete 1965 show from the same venue in stereo plus three bonus live tracks from 1964 from television appearances.

The Beatles – “Shea!/Candlestick Park” – (Spank Records) – Two of the more significant Beatles live performances, 1965’s first Shea Stadium appearance (though just the soundtrack to the 1966 TV special and not the raw audio) and The Beatles last ever live appearance before a paying audience at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966

These four CDs offer a lot of great Beatles live material that’s not available elsewhere or in better sound than the official release counterparts.

For example most of the “Stars of ’63” appearance made its way to an official release on 1995’s “Anthology 1” but here the performance is complete, with an interview, and in better sound. I love the way this unofficial release sparkles while the same songs featured on “Anthology 1” are a bit flatter sounding with less punch.

The “Ultimate Live Collection” features four of my favorite Beatles live recordings including one captured in my home state of Indiana from September of 1964. Each one of the shows on this set sound very good to excellent and while there’s not a great deal of variation of the setlists they are all really solid and enjoyable live shows that are a must for any true Beatles fan.

The “Hollywood Bowl Complete” CD is special because even though some of these performances were issued on the terrific sounding 2016 “Live at the Hollywood Bowl”, which was remixed by Giles Martin, the two shows on this CD feature the original mixes Capitol Records created for their aborted attempts at an issue of this live material.

It’s so nice to be able to hear what these shows would have sounded like on a Capitol vinyl album from the 1960s and this CD is the nearest you’re ever going to get. Plus these two shows are complete and the “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” CD is a mixture of different performances from different nights.

And last but not least, the “Shea!/Candlestick Park” CD contains my favorite sounding issue of The Beatles final show from 1966. Granted the recording is lower fidelity than the other shows I’ve mentioned as it was recorded with a handheld cassette recorder from in front of the stage by The Beatles press officer but it still sounds good and is a fun listen.

To me it’s the most exciting 1966 Beatles live recording (much more animated than the 1966 Japan shows) and probably the most historic Beatles show as it was their very last one. I must say I listen to this show more than the others as I really enjoy the energy The Beatles give in this performance and I love the feeling that they are having fun and putting their best into this performance.

So there you have it. Just a look at some of my favorite underground releases and the first in a series of these blog posts that will highlight some of the hidden gems that have made it to the compact disc medium oh so  long ago now in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

That’s all for now. 

Until next time be well and healthy and Happy Spring (almost!)

Sixty freakin’ years. That’s a long time but some things are definitely worth remembering.

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the day The Beatles first performed on the Ed Sullivan Show on the CBS network and as usual there’s a lot of media coverage both online as well as traditional TV coverage.

It seems like only yesterday I was celebrating the 50th anniversary of this event (where did those ten years go???) and now that sixty years have passed it’s kind of mind-blowing that The Beatles are still so much a part of the American psyche that this long ago appearance is still making headlines.

It goes without saying that The Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was a sort of Big Bang moment for the current rock era at least in the U.S. After that appearance the modern age of Rock music was born and along with it fashion and social norms for a new generation.

I’ve spoken before about my feelings of seeing the Ed Sullivan appearances as a second generation fan who can only look back through video footage and print coverage but even through second-hand exposure I totally got the feeling of this being something special.

Now in today’s media landscape of anything goes the Ed Sullivan Show appearances probably seem quaint and tame but to me there’s still an energy and excitement to these Beatle performances that transcends time.

Oh well, I won’t blather on but it is a significant event and something well worth celebrating. If you’ve never seen The Beatles Sullivan performances that night do a search online as they can easily be found. Here’s to an anniversary well worth celebrating – Happy 60 Beatles Sullivan Show!

On the other Beatles topics – my recent Beatles finds.

A couple of weeks ago I found a few really nice things that I was surprised to see as they usually don’t pop up in my search through antique stores. The one that really made me smile was a still sealed CD copy of a U.S. first issue of “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” from 1987 in its original longbox with the added bonus of a sticker on the back saying the CD was made in West Germany!

(Note: West Germany Beatles CDs are early pressings sought out by some collectors as they say they sound a bit better than the standard US issues.)

I have a longbox version of this very CD but my original store bought copy was made in the U.S. In fact I don’t recall ever seeing one of the original Beatles 1987 CDs with this small info sticker so I was really elated to find it. I haven’t seen a sealed longbox Beatles CD in well over thirty years and because this CD was very cheap of course I had to buy it.

(Note 2: has it really been that long since CDs came out – ouch!)

The same week I bought that lovely “Sgt. Pepper” CD I also came across a pressing of The Beatles 1964 Capitol album called “Something New” (stereo) which was the last vinyl issue of this album before being deleted because of the CD issues of Beatles albums.

This purple label with the C1 prefix sounds way better than the original 1964 pressings and is dead quiet. It’s definitely the best sounding vinyl version of this album that I own and the fact it was near mint in the shrink, and again pretty inexpensive, was a great bonus.

These C1 pressings are the way to hear the Capitol Beatles albums as they just sound terrific.

The last thing I stumbled on was an oddball Vee Jay record again from 1964 called “Jolly What! The Beatles and Frank Ifield On Stage”. I found this slightly worn mono copy for $6 dollars in a stack of old records from the same time frame.

I have never actually owned a copy of this album and despite the cover having a slight water stain on the rear the record was in very good shape and plays great! It is a fairly odd record though and the Frank Ifield songs are certainly an acquired taste but it is an iconic record that I’ve seen in price guides for decades so finally finding one this inexpensive was a great way to start 2024!

As usual you can see photos above (some classic U.S. 1964 Capitol Beatles albums on vinyl as well as CD) and below (the newly acquired Beatles goodies).

That’s all for now.

Until next time I hope you are healthy and well and today is the perfect time to either slap on a copy of “Meet the Beatles” (in whatever format you own) or watch the 1964 Ed Sullivan Beatles performances and take a trip back in time away from the weird and stressful times of 2024.